As mentioned in a previous post, the lush green vine that completely encompasses our fence is quite lovely, but also over powering. This spring, I decided that we needed to break-up the vine/green with some yard decor. There were hardly any stores open at that point (due to Covid), so I decided to look through what we already had on hand. Some of the items were set to be listed on Kijiji while others were awaiting projects or their final resting place in the landfill. Amongst our stash, I found the old spindles from our stair case make over last summer. As I walked past them, I was immediately struck with an idea! (My husband has grown to hate when that happens because my ideas often involve him!)
What I saw was the angle on the top of the posts…why not flip one post so that the tip of the angles met to create a peak…like on the top of a picket fence?You can see that just by flipping the post, the fence top was automatically created!I had my husband screw the posts together.He then added two braces across to finish the fence off. You can see this didn’t cost us a penny as it was all scrap wood!Here is a before shot. It was still quite early in the spring, so the vine wasn’t as lush and full as it is later in the season. Tim actually liked the idea so much, he even painted it for me. I added this old mailbox that I had previously painted daisies on, for added interest. This photo was taken the day we set it up. Now we have to work hard to keep the vine from completely hiding it as well!This shot was taken just after I had pruned back some of the vine! I like how the picket fence is mostly hidden and just peaks through to break up the green wall!
I love this upcycle project! It was relatively simple to do and I am quite pleased with the result! In the end, this didn’t end up being my project at all as my hubby did the whole thing…I guess you could just say I was the brains behind it!
During the first few months of Covid 19 most of the city was shut down, so not only was I working from home, but like everyone else, there were no dinners out, trips to the mall, gatherings with friends, etc. Like so many others, I found myself trying to get projects done around the house and yard. I would never consider myself a gardener. In fact, my husband would declare that I am not even able to keep our few house plants watered. It’s just not my thing. However, being home more this spring, we decided to try a small container vegetable garden knowing that there were no travel plans and thus no excuses for not being able to care for them. So, on May long weekend, we set to work and planted several containers as well as our basic bedding plants. So far, I would say that for us it has been successful. We’ve enjoyed many fresh salads and some of the vegetables that take longer to grow seem to be coming along well. I’m still in the doghouse for not helping with the watering when Tim is at work, but I am trying! 🤪
Being outside in the yard more, got me noticing how blah it really was. We have gorgeous vine that encompasses our whole fence. Although it is very lush, it is like a green wall. So, I decided that we needed to add a bit of interest by trying to break up sea of green. I began scouring Pinterest for garden upcycling projects, knowing that we have a large supply of “project materials” in storage.
I found some faux birdhouses on Pinterest and loved them. They were a simple project and the only cost was a few bottles of “outdoor” acrylic for the roofs. We had 4 spindles left over from our “oak” hunt last year when we rebuilt our main staircase with antique tables. This old table was actually salvaged from a scrap pile at an antique store, so they cost me nothing. In all honesty, they were in a “take to the dump” pile we were building at my house as well…so they got saved not once, but twice!!!
How to Build the Birdhouses:
From the center of the spindle top, cut down each side of center in a 45 degree angle on the mitre saw. This forms the roof.
Cut two scrap pieces of wood for the roof. We did not mitre these, but rather used 2 straight cut pieces of wood. The size will depend on how big your spindle is and how much of an overhand you want. Tim used the nail gun and glue to secure. One will be slightly larger than the other to compensate for the overlap at the tip of the roof (basically the thickness of the board coming up the other side of the roof.)
Drill one or more holes down the front (depends on style of spindle and how much room you have)
Paint with exterior paint. (I gave them a very quick sand just to get the varnish off. I also put on a coat of primer before my exterior paint.)
I love how these birdhouses came out and it was nice to save the landfill one more time!! Stay tuned for more backyard decor projects that we managed to create from the crap we have hanging around….kind of embarrassing really!
